Direct to Tape: c.1930 - 1963

Music Tech || MT CA1 - Introduction to Music Technology and the Music Business

What year did Ampex release the Model 200 tape recorders?

1948

What did the Model 200 tape recorder offer?

A recording time of more than 30 minutes.

What does it mean to manipulate audio on a tape machine?

The tape could be erased and reused many times.

What was the downside of tape?

• The more that tape was used, it began to degrade, meaning it would wear down and lose quality.

• As tape was expensive, this happened a lot.

Even though 1-2 track machines offer stereo recording, why did musicians still record in mono?

• They could use one track to record the band and the other track for the vocals. This gave more control over the balance between tracks.

• Consumer playback systems were mostly in mono, so they would not hear the benefits.

What is balance?

The relative volumes between tracks.

How did engineers ensure the best-sounding recording?

• They would have to carefully position microphones on the performers and record the ensemble simultaneously.

• As everything was then recorded onto one track, mistakes were time-consuming and therefore expensive.

• This meant musicians had to be able to perform really well.

What were some examples of the basic editing engineers could do to the tape?

• Multiple takes were recorded and the best take was then chosen for the final recording.

• This was achieved by cutting the tape and joining it back together with the tape from another take. This was known as splicing.

What is the main problem with splicing tape?

It’s a form of destructive editing, so any changes to the recording cannot be undone.